AD 50

Events

By place

Roman Empire

• Cologne is raised to the status of a city.
• Romans learn the use of soap from the Gauls.
• Utrecht is founded, and a Roman fortification is constructed at the Rhine border in the present-day Netherlands.
• Claudius adopts Nero.
• In Judea a Roman soldier seizes and burns a Torah-scroll. Procurator Cumanus has the culprit beheaded, calming down the Jews and delaying for two decades the outbreak of their revolt.
• In Britain, governor Publius Ostorius Scapula begins his campaign against the recalcitrant Silures of south Wales, who are led by the former Catuvellaunian prince Caratacus. London, Exeter, Tripontium and the fort of Manduessedum are founded.
• Roman emperor Claudius appoints Agrippa II governor of Chalcis.
• Romans build a wooden bridge across the Thames in the London area.

  South Asia

• The Yuezhi tribes are united under the Kushan leader Kujula Kadphises, thus creating the Kushan Empire in Afghanistan and northern India.

  Americas

• San Bartolo pyramid is completed around this time.

  By topic

Religion

• Christianity is introduced throughout Nubia by a high official of Queen Judith.
• The Epistle to the Romans is written.
• The Apostles hold the Council of Jerusalem.

  Arts and sciences

• Hero of Alexandria invents a steam turbine.
• Pamphilus of Alexandria writes a poetic lexicon.
• Pedanius Dioscorides describes the medical applications of plants in De Materia Medica.
• Diogenes, the Greek explorer, discovers the African Great Lakes.
• The distinction between chronic maladies and acute illnesses is made by Thessalos.

Births

• Cai Lun, Chinese inventor of paper and the papermaking process

  Deaths

• Abgar V, Roman client king of Osroene
• Aulus Cornelius Celsus, Roman author of De Medicina
• Gamaliel the Elder, Jewish ruler in Babylonia
• Gaius Julius Phaedrus, Roman fabulist
• Philo of Alexandria, Jewish philosopher
• Scribonius Largus, Roman court physician